FIBA World Cup: 3 Reasons why NBA stars opting out of the tournament is justified

#2 A huge section of the league turned upside down by free agency

Tuning up to the new franchises will require some getting used to.

The bigger picture will forever be that the Team USA has always been at the mercy of 30 NBA franchises more or less. All the organisations want their players fit and ready to play at the highest level come the NBA season. To put things into perspective, roughly 25% of the players in the league changed teams over the last few months, courtesy of the tectonic shift brought forth by the offseason.

Majority of players who have dropped out of the squad would likely want to acclimatize to the new weather and concentrate on everything that comes with joining a new team. Davis became the latest addition to the new-look Lakers, Harden has the task of figuring out Westbrook (and vice versa) while the Pelicans would never shell out their prized possession in Zion for anything but the NBA.

One glaring exception comes in the form of Kemba Walker, but that too is explained by the fact that he gets a golden opportunity to build some much-needed chemistry with his new teammates Tatum, Brown and Smart - who are also members of the Team USA roster.